hankyoreh

South and North Korean guard posts along the border in Panmunjom’s Joint Security Area (JSA) in the DMZ.

South and North Korea have begun the task of removing land mines from the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom as well as the Arrowhead Hill (Hwasalmeori) region in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, where joint exhumation of the remains of Korean War MIA/POW are set to take place. It is the first step in implementing the “Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain (Sept. 19).”

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense announced, “The demining of the Joint Security Area, the first step in the demilitarization of the area, will begin on Oct. 1 and go on for 20 days, with each side responsible for their area, as specified in the Agreement of Sept. 19.”

The announcement continued, “The demining of the Arrowhead Hill area in Cheorwon, within the DMZ, for the exhumation of North and South Korean remains will also happen, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 11.”

Military authorities have sent in an engineer unit consisting of technicians and engineers to aid in the removal of the mines within the designated areas. In the area south of Panmunjom, the team will focus on the wooded areas in the east and west, as well as near the watchtower. In the Arrowhead Hill region, approximately 100 soldiers will be dispatched to aid in demining just south of the armistice line.

Military authorities intend to finish construction of a road running from North to South, for the exhumation of remains, by the end of this year. In a media release from the same day, the Ministry of National Defense also announced, “The militaries of both South and North Korea, beginning with the demining of key exhumation sites for North and South Korea within the DMZ and the Panmunjom JSA, will work together to ensure that the Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain of Sept. 19 can be fulfilled systematically and successfully.”

In the Pyongyang Joint Declaration of Sept. 19, the two Koreas agreed to “adopt the "Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain" as an annex to the Pyongyang Declaration, and to thoroughly abide by and faithfully implement it, and to actively take practical measures to transform the Korean Peninsula into a land of permanent peace.”

South Korean soldiers work on an exhumation project in July on Bunker Hill in Hongcheon Country

The Sept. 19 Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain, which was annexed to the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, contains specific agreements between the two Koreas for the alleviation of military tensions. The agreement pledges, “South Korea, North Korea and the United Nations Command will, beginning on Oct. 1, 2018, remove the land mines within the Panmunjom JSA within 20 days.”

The agreement also pledges that the explosives and landmines in the Arrowhead Hill area, the model excavation site for the two Koreans within the DMZ, “will be completely removed between Oct. 1, 2018 and Nov. 30.”

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]